The present invention relates to a device for automatically feeding an animal, for instance, a pet dog or cat. More particularly it relates to a device which preserves and makes available food to an animal on a predetermined schedule.
It is often desirable to be able to provide sustenance to an animal such as a pet, during the absence of the person responsible for caring for the animal. In providing the sustenance to the animal it is often desirable to provide the nourishment on a predetermine schedule. Further, to maintain the quality of the food and to make it more palatable to the animal it is necessary to keep the food at lower temperature than that of the surrounding environment.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an animal care center which makes food available to an animal on a regular schedule. It would be further desirable to provide both food and water on a predetermined schedule. It would also be desirable to maintain the food, and water if provided, at a lower temperature to preserve the food and make the water more desirable.
It is an object of this invention to provide an automatic feeder for an animal which makes food available to the animal at periodic intervals. It is a further object of this invention to refrigerate the food when it is not available to the animal. It is still another object of this invention to provide for animal waste disposal in conjunction with the automatic feeder.
The automatic feeder of this invention refrigerates multiple servings of food and water, and presents according to a predetermined time schedule a serving of food and water to an animal such as a pet cat or dog. A circular food tray is provided with pie shaped serving containers on its top surface. In a preferred embodiment the serving containers are provided in adjacent pairs, with pie shaped spacers between adjacent pairs. The circular food tray is mounted for rotation within a refrigerated compartment. In the preferred embodiment an opening is provided in the refrigerated compartment such that an adjacent pair of the serving trays is accessible to an animal for consuming the material placed in the adjacent pair of serving trays. For instance one of the trays may contain water, and the other a food which must be kept refrigerated to prevent spoiling. Typical of such foods would be canned cat and dog food.
In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the refrigeration unit is similar to those used in the typical small chest type refrigerator.
Suitable flexible insulating means provided closure between the tray and the refrigerated compartment, For instance, a double brush cold stop may be provided between the top and side surfaces of the tray. The brushes being in engagement with the top surface of the pie shaped spacers between adjacent pairs of serving containers, when the circular tray is not rotating.
The circular tray is connect by a drive train to a motor. When the motor is energized, the tray is caused to rotate. Energization of the motor is controlled by a timer. The timer can be programmed to cause the motor to be energized periodically, such as every ten minutes for a sufficient amount of time, to rotate the tray to bring a succeeding pair of adjacent serving trays into the opening. With this arrangement, a pair of trays, containing for instance food and water is always accessible by an animal, but if not consumed, is again refrigerated, such that it will not spoil. In an alternative arrangement, the timer may start the motor periodically, such as every ten minutes, and a micro switch positioned to be actuated by projections on the tray to shut off the motor when the next pair of trays is positioned in the opening.
While the previously described rotation of the circular tray would be appropriate for an animal which does not over-eat, it would not be appropriate for an animal which would tend to eat all of the food presented to it. For animals of the later type, the timer would be programmed to rotate at less frequent intervals, such as only two or three times a day. When used in this manner, with food and water in adjacent trays, water would have to be otherwise made available to the animal.